Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-11-05
A HARD BARGAIN.
BY WALTER BEsANT.

do hope that the appearance of small
details like the above, at first incredible,
will not be taken a proof of want of
Teracfty on my own part. I wish that I
could tell the tale without these particu.
lars, but I cannot. must relate the
whole or none.
'You here?' said Mr.. Grumbelow.
looking at me with an air of contempt.
BE seated himself at the table and I'M
folded his napkin. sSoup, Boule-de.
neige."
'Massa hungry? Dat young debbel
there he look berry pale already"
Pretty we'll. Boul-de-neige, consider
ing. You, sir, come here and let me look
at YOU" l obeyed. Hold out your
hand. 1t shakes. Let me look at your
eyes. They are yellow. Do you know
that your appetite seems to me to be fail
ing Observation-Disclosures It is only the
fourth day."
1T is not my fault l said.
Nonsense. Don't talk to me, sir, be-
u will have mont of your insolence.
say that You do not walk enough. (
order you to walk twelve miles q day
even twenty after a heavy night-do Won
hear"
ut is not in the contract" l replied
doggedly.
''It IS in the contract. You are to use
every means in your power to keep your
faculties in vigor. What means lave you
uSad:', n -. a.
lie banged the spoon Oh the table and
glanced at me so fercely that I had moth
ing to say.
''Massa, soup get cold" said Boul-de-
neige.
He gobbled it up, every now and then
1Onkirr I'm or ~ vrysfh m o,~rx, r,,,o
Now, then, You and your contract.
This is pretty ingratitude, this is. Here's
a fellow, Boul-de-neige, l pick up out of
the gutter starving, Whom i keep expen-
sively, whom l endow with an income,
whom l deprive of the temptation to glut-
tony"
"Nebber see such II debbel in all my
days." said the negro; "nebber hear such
a ting oldnowhere."
No, nor ever will. Listen to me, sir.
You will walk ten, twelve or twenty miles
q day, according to the dinner I have had.
And, mark you, it will be the worse for
You ii you 10 not. Remember, if l can
not eat l can drink"
There was a fiendish glare in his blood
stained eyes as he spoke, and l trcmbled.
My spirit was so completely gone that I
had not even the pluck to appeal to his
pity. Perhaps IL secret consciousness of
the uselessness of such an appeal deferred
me.
You will now" he said, "watch me
making as large a dinner rs your miser-
ably languid appetite will allow
81 have been drunk for four nights" I
pleaded.
drunk so easily. Your head is CONTEMPT
IDLY weak-what did I take yesterday,
Boule-de-nciges'
big bottle champagne, big bottle port,
eight goes whisky grog.''
Il did-and that was all. Why, your
predecessor stood double the quantity"
beg pardon, massa. Last young
gegleman poor trash-last but two-him
mighty strong llead-hcad like bull
nebber get drunk
"Ah, we wasted him, Boulc. de -neiee;
fooled him away in one imprudent even
ing. 1 told you at the time that noyeau
punch is II very dangerous thing"
''Ho, ho!' the diabolical negro laughed
till his teeth showed like the yrinning
jaws of Il deaths head. 'Ho, no! him
SO blind drunk he tumble out of window
break him neck. Ho, ho!"
This was q pleasant conversation for
me to hear.
Then Mr.. Grumbelow resumed his
dinner. .s
He ate a good deal in spite of his grumb-
ling, and then he began to drink port. I
observed that the wine had a peculiar eff
feet upon him. 1t made him redder in
the face, nut not thicker in speech. He
drank two bottles, talking at me all the
time. l began to get drunk, he only got
the more merrily tiendish.
''This is really delightful, " he said. as l
reeled and caught at a chair for support.
SIT is quite Il new pleasure to watch the eff
fects Of my own drink or another mans
brain. I shall write a book about you. I
shall cailit THE Young Christian Deferred,
or Leaves from Luke Lucraft's Wicked
Life Ho, ha! ha! no! I saw the account
in The Morning Post. Heigh! heigh!'-he
nearly choked us he recalled the circum-
stance. THE magistrate a%dmonishing
the wicked drunkard. Ho, no! 1t is like
a farce. Stand up, sir, stand up! He
can't stand up. Can you sing? Can you
dance: He could not even dance a horn
pipe. Do you feel a little thickness in
your speech? Would you be able to ex-
cumstance, quite beyond your own control,
which brought you into that painful posi-
tion in which you stoodi It Is the best
situation that was ever put upon any
stage. There's nothing like it in fiction.
Nothing. Walter Scott never invented
anything half so rich. Ho, no, hoi he Is
really getting drunk already. What a
poor creature it isr
He paused for a moment and then went
OH.
''Boule-de.neige, coffee; brandy in it.
plenty of brandy, and q glass of curacao
afterward. A large glass, sirl I'll have
night Of it. Your health, Luke Lucraft,
in this coffee; and you had better take
care of it, or I'll pack you off with noyeau
punch. Pleasant times you are having,
ch: Might have been worse, you know.
You might have been starving. What,
Don't fall against the table in that way.
Take care Of the furniturel It cost a great
deal more money than you are worth. So,
sit down on the floor while I tell you
about your predecessors, dead and gone,
poor fellows.
LET me see, the first was William
Saunders, u poor devil Of q clerk Of mine.
He disgraced himself in chapel one week
day prayer meeting, the very evening Of
his signature; then he ran away, but
Boule-de-ne!ge found him out, and brought
hin back. He took to praying and cry
ing. One day he died in st. Bartholo-
news hospital of delirium tremens. He
lasted about six months.
THE next was Hans Hansen, u Dane.
He only lasted about three weeks, because
he could no longer taste brandy. was
disappointed With Hansen, and when he
jumped of London bridge into the Thames
one night, his appetite having quito gone,
1 was really very sorry on account Of the
femDorarv Inconvenience II mt ma IN.